Education Org Unveils New Ad Campaign Urging Congress To Make School Choice A Reality In Every State

An education advocacy group is launching a new ad campaign Tuesday to draw congressional attention to a key bill that would extend school choice scholarships to millions of children across the U.S.

The Invest in Education Coalition (IIEC) launched a new ad Tuesday showing the impact of school choice policies on families. The legislation, known as the Educational Choice for Children Act, would provide billions of dollars in federal tax credits for as many as two million K-12 students across the nation to allow for better educational opportunities.

“Thanks to a school choice scholarship my son became the first person in our family to graduate college,” Diana Reyes, a Nevada mother, says in the ad. “I supported Donald Trump because he’s the school choice President, and he fights for parents and kids. There is new legislation in Congress that will help Trump expand school choice in all fifty states. It’s a game changer for parents and students.”

Reyes’ son struggled in public school with limited educational resources, but managed to get a school choice scholarship which helped her son excel and go on to obtain a college degree.

IIEC is hopeful that with President Donald Trump in office, the act will pass and be signed into law, expanding educational freedom for all families. Trump has expressed support for school choice initiatives and his nomination for head of the Department of Education, Linda McMahon, is expected to be a champion of the policies.

Calls to expand school choice have grown in recent years as student performance in public schools continues to nosedive, with the decline noticeably beginning in the COVID pandemic. One 2024 study found that the gap between pre-COVID results for sixth graders in math and English grew by 40% and 31% between fall 2023 and spring 2024, leaving the average eighth grader to need approximately nine months of additional schooling to reach pre-COVID levels in the two subjects.

Studies have shown school choice helps to lower the achievement gap between low income children and their peers, with student performance improving in every major city that serves a majority of low-income families when a third or more are enrolled in charter schools.

While some states have successfully expanded school choice measures, others have shot down the attempts, with some even ending in lengthy legal battles over the constitutionality of such policies.

“We are proud to share the stories of families who are impacted by the issue of school choice,” Anthony J. de Nicola, chairman of Invest in Education Coalition, said in a statement. “The ECCA would benefit parents and students in every community across all 50 states. Voters from every demographic across the country support school choice, and they voted for President Trump in large numbers because they want better educational options for their children. School choice is an issue that all Americans can get behind and we will keep fighting to spread awareness so that lawmakers can swiftly act in support of the ECCA, in turn giving our young people access to brighter futures.”